The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by Beedok

Edmonton has a very long skyline, but Ottawa-Gatineau has way more highrises than either of the Alberta metropolises. Edmonton proper has 258, Calgary proper has 311, Ottawa proper has 393. As far as I can tell suburbs currently add 1 building to Edmonton (soon to be 6 from the looks of things), vs. 30+ from Gatineau. Obviously Ottawa has had more steady growth than either of it's competitors, but it has a large number of highrise clumps in the middle of no where. Lincoln Fields is probably the largest of the truly suburban one, but there's a whole bunch all over the place.

Oh, love Ottawa's density and not trying to take anything away from it... but it is amazing how often Edmonton is forgotten about with regards to skyline, length, # and even density in some areas... especially given how much land we have and how far north we really are.


(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/image...2q-_NvA2CVkHJoV8DcOttpfM4350F-zPo_-g2Xa8)


(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2213/2323807559_c94a80a072_z.jpg)


(http://peakexperienceimagery.com/picture...%20Aerial%20Photograph?pictureId=4243277)


(http://medias.photodeck.com/d8f25904-b813-11e1-a1d2-016b73104c26/11-08-16H-519_xgaplus.jpg)


(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8256/8622404924_b5a9d6b472_z.jpg)


(http://medias.photodeck.com/46d0c888-ad38-11e2-8367-fbc1ddf8b129/12-09-23-0515_xgaplus.jpg)

[Chadillaccc]

That last one is amazing. Love Edmonton.

[davidivivid]

Montreal Downtown 4 Oct 2010 par Roberto Rocco, sur Flickr

[haljackey]

Toronto Skyline From The Gardiner Expressway

• Video Link

Source: Me!

Content removed

[kw5150]

Thats a great shot of Calgary's Beltline!

.....OMG, thats Ottawa? Bahahaha. They should have really signed on to downtown living earlier. They have some serious catch up work to do.

Many of the buildings in the beltline and surrounding areas are all below 7 or 8 stories. I dont think they register on emporis or SSP. Plenty of density in Calgary.

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Exactly.

Lets just point it out with pictures :




I love both cities, hence it's just the true reality. In Ottawa you will find mid/highrises more far away of the downtown core.
Could it change in the future ? ... sure, I'm sure Calgary is working on that way. But I think it will take years to reach Ottawa.

[Coldrsx]

'.....OMG, thats Ottawa? Bahahaha. They should have really signed on to downtown living earlier. They have some serious catch up work to do. '

Spoken like someone who clearly hasn't been to our great Capital.

Ignorance is not bliss.

[Chadillaccc]

To be fair, neither is ignorance about other cities. Of course Ottawa's core is denser than the Beltline, though the Beltline is a fair bit taller with 3 buildings completed over 112 meters(Ottawa's tallest) and 2 more UC over 115 meters. The Beltline is densifying at a rapid rate, it certainly is not to be under estimated, just as the core of Ottawa shouldn't be.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by kw5150

Thats a great shot of Calgary's Beltline!

.....OMG, thats Ottawa? Bahahaha. They should have really signed on to downtown living earlier. They have some serious catch up work to do.

Many of the buildings in the beltline and surrounding areas are all below 7 or 8 stories. I dont think they register on emporis or SSP. Plenty of density in Calgary.

Calgary's urban fabric is very centralised. Ottawa is chaotic and everywhere. Also the downtown area was pre-highrise, like say Hamilton or Montreal, so there's less skyline to downtown ratio, while cities on the Prairies tended to have highrises about as soon as they came into existance (a mix of technology and optimism causing that). Not as big a difference as say Calgary vs. Edinburough, but similar.

[caltrane74]

From my morning jog...

[Beedok]

Toronto continues to build a new city that happens to overlap a pre-existing one.

[kw5150]

Coldrsx: Spoken like someone who clearly hasn't been to our great Capital.

Ignorance is not bliss.

Well, with all the dumb comments pouring in about Ottawa being "So much more urban" I just had to chime in and play the "I have something stupid to say" game.

Calgary is getting to be such a good place to go out in. We had great saturday night bar hopping all over the place. There were lots people out considering how snowy it was all day.

Its not as corporate as people think, lol.

[kw5150]

An oldie from another forum member 1ajs

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by Razor

Couldn't disagree more..Ottawa is indeed a regional centre for all of Eastern Ontario and parts of Western Quebec as well..I doubt that someone in Renfrew, Brockville or Kemptville would travel to Montreal to get to the closest Ikea or Costco..In fact, within a 100 km radius the Capital probably services more people outside of the big three..Actually, Quebec City may service just as much if not more within that 100 km radius..Now yes, people here including myself do go to Montreal for shopping , dining etc., but it's not out of necessity..More for the excursion...Too bad there wasn't a stat or sample to show how many non residents on a given day are in a city..With all the foreign dignitaries, and tourists that come through, I think Ottawa and Quebec City would score surprisingly well (QC for tourists)...Do government workers/diplomats from other countries even get counted in the census?..Now you are probably right that Calgary and Edmonton are both more bustling..You actually lived here,so you can compare.Ottawa is kinda sleepy, but that's part of it's laid back charm. I have some relatives that said that the Albertan cities kinda shut down at night as well. They actually live there too.

Ok, first of all I wasn’t speaking in absolutes. If you live in the immediate area and you want to go to Ikea, Lee Valley Tools, or Canadian Tire, then yes you will run in to Ottawa. But, as you yourself have just acknowledged, many thousands of Ottawanians go to Montreal to shop, or even just to go to a restaurant, and the people in the surrounding area do the same. And you don’t have go too far west before people start going to Toronto a lot. I would bet that the average person in Brockville goes to Toronto at least as much as they go to Ottawa. I even knew quite a few people in Ottawa who would take shopping trips to Toronto. What this does is it takes a lot of business out of the Ottawa area and moves it to Montreal and Toronto. In the Calgary area, however, those same kinds of shops and restaurants are in Calgary. People don’t need to leave the city to go to them. Instead of going to Montreal Calgarians go to Mission, Kensington, 17th, Inglewood, Bridgeland, etc.. Also, if you live in Okotoks, Lethbridge, or Medicine Hat you also go to Calgary to shop. If you live in the Crowsnest Pass you go to Calgary. If you live in Invermere BC you go to Calgary. If you live in Red Deer you probably go to both Calgary and Edmonton. There are many people in Saskatchewan who have friends and relatives in Alberta too, so even people from Regina and Saskatoon take shopping/visiting trips to Calgary and Edmonton. Anyway, you get the idea. Calgary has a Bentley dealership, for another example, and they’re building a new Ferrari Maserati dealership. You know you’re a major regional center when you have businesses like this setting up in town. When I moved from Ottawa to Calgary it felt like I was moving from a small city to a big city, even though on paper the population numbers are almost the same, and this is a big reason for the difference. There are other factors as well, of course. Ottawa is a complicated place in many ways, but I would say that this is the biggest reason.

Ottawa is a great place too, of course. I lived on Summerset near Eglin for a while, and I still have family living in the Glebe, so I know it has some great neighbourhoods, but there are just a lot more of them in Calgary.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Allan83

But, as you yourself have just acknowledged, many thousands of Ottawanians go to Montreal to shop, or even just to go to a restaurant, and the people in the surrounding area do the same.

Wtf is an Ottawanian?

The only people I know that go to Montreal to shop or dine do it once or twice a year. Or they used to live there, and go because they want to visit old friends.

Originally Posted by Allan83

I even knew quite a few people in Ottawa who would take shopping trips to Toronto.

There's nothing in Toronto that isn't already here. Or Montreal, which is closer (and all of your friends seem to go there).

Originally Posted by Allan83

When I moved from Ottawa to Calgary it felt like I was moving from a small city to a big city, even though on paper the population numbers are almost the same, and this is a big reason for the difference.

This sentence doesn't make sense? They're the same population, so that's the difference? huh?

Originally Posted by Allan83

Ottawa is a great place too, of course. I lived on Summerset near Eglin for a while, and I still have family living in the Glebe, so I know it has some great neighbourhoods, but there are just a lot more of them in Calgary.

If you lived at that intersection, could you at least get the street names right?

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by harls

There's nothing in Toronto that isn't already here.

lol wut

[travis3000]

I understand the feel thing. People I know who moved from Toronto to Calgary always comment how they feel as if they moved from a big city to a small city. With Ottawa and Calgary, there is a different feel to them, even though populations are similar. Calgary has a big core with tall buildings and is quickly becoming the economic capital of Western Canada, so it does give off a bigger city feel compared to a more spread out, shorter building Ottawa layout. Not that one is better than the other, just a general perception.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by harls

Wtf is an Ottawanian?

The only people I know that go to Montreal to shop or dine do it once or twice a year. Or they used to live there, and go because they want to visit old friends.

This sounds about right. I knew people who took trips to Montreal or Toronto once in awhile, but it's not like people were travelling just to go out to dinner.

Originally Posted by Allan83

Ottawa is a great place too, of course. I lived on Summerset near Eglin for a while, and I still have family living in the Glebe, so I know it has some great neighbourhoods, but there are just a lot more of them in Calgary.

I find it really hard to agree with this one. Calgary has some great neighbourhoods, but based on the age of the city you end up in 1950s style suburbia very quickly. Ottawa has many areas a significant distance from the core that are still relatively vibrant with streetfront retail. I'm thinking places like Westboro, Old Ottawa South, New Edinburgh and the Preston St corridor. These are outside of the more well-known central areas (Centretown, Glebe, Sandy Hill etc). Plus you have a completely separate CBD across the river with its own services.

You may be able to make a convincing argument that the central neighbourhoods in Calgary have more to offer in terms of shopping, restaurants, bars etc. but there aren't more of them. As flar posted earlier, this isn't a slight but it's largely to do with the respective ages of both places.

And yes, I have lived in both cities. I actually felt the opposite - like I was moving to a bigger city from Calgary to Ottawa. At least once I got used to the lack of skyline and saw more of the older urban neighbourhoods.

[harls]

Originally Posted by The_Architect

lol wut

Except Caltrane.

[Chadillaccc]

Round and round we go! People that have never been to Calgary talking about it like they know something, versus people who have lived in/at least been to Ottawa...